Confusing information re: brooding keets

[JLeigh]

I read in one place that you bring the temp down for keets the same way you do for chicks, 5 degrees each week (e.g. 95 week one, 90 week two, 85 week three, etc.) for six weeks.

Another place read keep the temp at 95 degrees for six weeks. (????)

Keeping them at 95 degrees for six weeks seems a little warm. I've brooded chicks and used the "5 degrees down each week". Are keets different?

TIA

 

[chickmashnoon]

I've also read that they need to be warm (95) for the 1st two weeks and once they are after that point they are "the hardiest fowl i've seen" (wish I knew where I saw that). not sure if I'd be brave enough to go that far, but I know mine have been outside in 70-80 degree weather and they are about 2 weeks old. I bring them in at nite, but during the day they do pretty well, basking in the sun and snuggling and zipping around like only keets can I also read that they need to stay at 95 for a couple months or they will die- but I must have some zombie keets cause they are still running around.

I told a friend that chickens flock together like teenage girls at the mall, where guineas flock together like a SWAT team this is my first time having guineas, so I am facinated by the differences.

 

[PeepsCA]

I read in one place that you bring the temp down for keets the same way you do for chicks, 5 degrees each week (e.g. 95 week one, 90 week two, 85 week three, etc.) for six weeks.

This is how I've raised thousands of keets. And IMO, 95 degrees for a full 6 wks would probably kill them if they cannot get away from the heat.

 

[JLeigh]

That's what I thought, and that's what I'll do. I just wanted it confirmed because you have to be careful what you read on the internet...meaning not every article you pull up on Google has the definitive answer.

That's what I did with my chickens, and I also would take them outside in hot, sunny weather at about 3-4 weeks for about an hour (in the run!) and they loved it. I would bring them back inside into the brooder and they'd sleep for awhile. Ha. Kids and sunshine...makes 'em nap every time.

 

[JLeigh]

chickmashnoon, that was a good analogy about the mall. Guineas have a very different "persona" than chickens. But in my yard, the chickens are smarter. That may not be saying much LOL.

But guineas have gotten under my skin. I don't think of them as "my children", but I do love them for their silliness, charm, grace, and their looks. I'm working on training them to a routine that helps keep them safe (I hope, knock on wood).

I do have a chicken that has chosen me as a "friend". Her name is Constance Goodheart, and she's been more friendly to me than any of the others from day one, and she "talks" to me when she sees me, follows me around. It's very endearing.

Even my husband has grown very fond of the flock. Since he's the builder of coops, runs, perches, etc., that's a good thing for everybody. He's encouraged me to get into hatching, so I'm a budding hatch-a-holic. YAY! I think I'll be hatching guineas, chickens, pea fowl (in the future)....I feel a healthy addiction coming on!

 

[livenwpeeps]

AHHH A Budding Hatch-A-Holic!!!! I love it!!! I have a bad problem of walking around and picking up anything that looks like an egg AND getting excited when I find it, even if it isn't an egg.

 

[JLeigh]

I found a robin's egg in the yard last weekend, picked it up and saw that it had hatched. I examined it for several minutes, fascinated, and wondered if I could tell if it had hatched properly by the way the egg had been zipped (I think that's the right word for what I saw.)

Yep. It gets ya and keeps ya.